Days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I., Conn.) is calling for a temporary moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants. “The reality is that we’re watching something unfold,” he said in an interview on Face the Nation. “We don’t know where it’s going with regard to the nuclear power plants in Japan right now.” In the short term, he urged lawmakers to “put the brakes” on building new plants “until we understand the ramifications of what has happened in Japan.”

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell disagrees. “This discussion reminds me, somewhat, of the conversations that were going on after the BP oil spill last year,” he said on Fox News Sunday. “I don’t think right after a major environmental catastrophe is a very good time to be making American domestic policy.”